MOTOGP
FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND 11 / AUGUST 11-13, 2017
RED BULL RING / SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA
P76
second clear at the end of the
lap. At this point, Dovi was third,
then Rossi, who had bullied his
way through ahead of Vinales,
Pedrosa, Zarco and Andrea Ian-
none's Suzuki.
With everyone saving not just
tires but also fuel, the early pace
was not fast, but the action close
and compelling.
Marquez had caught Lorenzo
by lap six, but it was not until the
12th that he finally moved ahead,
and in between Dovi had been
second for several laps; and on
the 11th the trio had briefly been
three abreast.
Now both were past Lorenzo,
while close behind Zarco and
actually worked better than the
hard in warmer conditions here,
and vice versa. "There is maybe
one step difference, but there
are many different rubbers in the
tires and they work differently in
different conditions," he said.
"It is difficult and very important
to understand this over every
weekend."
Marquez had taken pole for
a third race in a row, from Dovi
and Lorenzo. Vinales led row
two from Danio Petrucci (Pramac
Ducati) and Zarco, with Rossi
leading row three.
Marquez got the jump, but
Lorenzo grabbed the lead at the
second slow corner, and was a
disappointment.
Only one rider, Cal Crutchlow
(LCR Honda) chose the hard
front, and only three the soft—
the most notable being Johann
Zarco (Monster Yamaha). The
rear saw more variety, with three
on the medium, eight on the soft
(notably Dovi, Zarco and sec-
ond factory Ducati rider Jorge
Lorenzo). Both Movistar Ya-
maha riders Valentino Rossi and
Maverick Vinales joined Honda
teammates Marquez and Dani
Pedrosa and nine other riders on
the hard rear.
As Dovi explained, though,
calling the tires hard or soft is
somewhat deceptive, for the soft
Bradley Smith (38)
leads a multi-
colored freight
train at the back of
the pack.
